


Flying V

by FeelingCreature



Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Anyway it's really short, Drabble, Ficlet, Gen, I don't know what it is exactly, KTMA, Long-winded internal monologue, Or maybe Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 17:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2740559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeelingCreature/pseuds/FeelingCreature
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joel thinks about his robots; KTMA era.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying V

**Author's Note:**

> *Update-8/6/16* Updated story with better, revised/edited edition. Hope you enjoy.

      There had been so much to teach the bots in the early days. Joel had programmed as much information into them as he could think of at the time, but apparently he’d missed a lot. For the first few months, it seemed like every other minute they asked him another question about what “this” was, or “how did that work?” or especially “Why did the person in the movie do that?”

      Joel didn’t mind, though. He did his best to explain everything to them, although at times he found it surprisingly difficult. Sometimes he knew the answer, but just couldn’t express it correctly. Like when somebody asks you what a word means and you know what it means, but you can’t quite figure out how to say it. Sometimes they were “human things” that they might not ever be able to understand. Most of the time, though, the bots picked things up fast. How much they retained seemed to fluctuate according to their moods, but mostly they remembered.

      He’d originally built the bots for companionship and intellectual stimulation, so he wouldn’t go crazy up here on the Satellite. Sort of a foreign concept for him, in a way, since he’d never been much of a people person down on Earth. Joel wasn’t really sure why he had done it. It just seemed like the thing to do. So he built himself some buddies. He just hadn’t expected them to turn out quite so…complete. They weren’t just highly complex machines- they were like children. They had distinct personalities and preferences. They made mistakes and learned from them, when they wanted to. They were really… _real_.

      Sometimes Joel thought maybe he’d gotten in over his head with all this. He hadn’t set out to become a parent, but that’s what had happened. He didn’t really know what he was doing- but then again, did any parent? Did anyone, in general? Everyone in the world was really just making it up as they went along. That was kind of how he’d gone about building the ‘bots, so maybe it was fitting. He’d do the best he could.

      He loved them already. A lot more than he would have thought. He loved them so much, it actually scared him a little. Joel wasn’t used to feeling this way about anyone else. Attached- that was the word. How had he gotten so attached in such a short time, not even a year? Normally he could be around somebody, even someone whose company he enjoyed, forever and still not really miss them after he inevitably left for someplace new. That was just how he was.

But how could you not get attached to the bots? Sure, they were sarcastic and smart-alecky and often disobedient, but they were also witty and hilarious and, very, very cute. Sure, he’d built them, but that stuff hadn’t come from him. It all came from them. He didn’t know how it had happened, but he was so glad it had. His robots were special. For whatever unexplained cosmic reason, the universe had decided he needed these weird robot kids. And it was right. He did.

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow inspired by the song Flying V by They Might Be Giants, in kind of an odd sideways kind of way. (Also, yes, I know that's off of one of their kids albums, judge me if you must.)
> 
> It's not much of an actual story- nothing happens in it. Just some thoughts I've had about Joel's relationship with the bots.


End file.
